The Rogue Scout sits in a small office near the front door of his suburban Sacramento home, remote control in hand. He’s staring at a TV set that’s at least a decade old, examining game tape of one of the 2011 NFL draft’s top prospects, a quarterback who’ll likely be snatched up with one of the first five selections.

The scout has seen this movie before, and he doesn’t like it.

“What does this guy do that anybody likes?” Dave Razzano asks, pressing the rewind button. “Every pass is an underneath curl route! It’s third-and-10 in the red zone – throw a [expletive] touchdown pass. But look at this: A three-yard dump-off. That’s all he does. He threw the ball just about every play, and he had 16 touchdown passes last season."

“This is the guy somebody’s gonna take in the top 10? Based on what? Trust me, they’re guessing.”

Razzano, a respected talent evaluator during a two-decade-plus career with the San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals, is talking about former Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert, and he’s not holding back.

About Locker:

Similarly, Razzano was down on former Washington quarterback Jake Locker – until he watched more tape.

“Everybody says he’s inaccurate,” Razzano said as Locker completed an intermediate pass against USC on the TV behind him. “He’s not – he throws a great ball! It’s a low-percentage offense. There’s never anybody open underneath, and he’s got no protection. You can see it if you look closely enough. People are stupid.

“[Brett] Favre went in the second round, right? If you look at their college stats, Favre and Locker are practically identical. Now look at this play: Tell me this guy doesn’t move like Favre, scramble like Favre, throw like Favre. Pretend he has the number four on his jersey. His release is a lot like Favre, too.”

And...

Before I departed, Razzano wanted to give me one, final look at his favorite quarterback in this year’s draft. “Let’s watch Favre,” he said before catching himself. “I mean Locker. Man … I’m calling the guy ‘Favre.’ ”

Watching Locker roll to his right and release the ball just before an oncoming pass rusher arrived, Razzano exclaimed, “Look, he puts his shoulder into it. Look! It’s just like Favre. If people can’t see that …”

I could almost feel the Excitement Meter shaking with seismic abandon. Razzano paused the tape and continued: “My first exposure to Locker, watching a game on TV, I did not like what I saw. He threw errant passes and wasn’t very accurate. But then I saw the tape and realized it’s not him. He had more drops [by receivers] than anyone in the Pac-10, and he was running for his life – his line was probably the worst in the conference. And he still made plays with the game on the line. The guy’s a winner.”

Razzano hit play on the remote and paced around the room as Locker faked a handoff, rolled to his left and threw a touchdown pass to a receiver in the middle of the end zone.

“Look at him here,” Razzano said, “throwing against the grain …”

On a metaphorical level, this was something to which the Rogue Scout could absolutely relate.

And a special Titans related bonus:

When I asked him to name an off-the-radar player in this year’s draft that he regards as a potential Pro Bowl performer, his eyes lit up excitedly.

“There’s a defensive tackle at USC named Jurrell Casey, and he’s the protypical nose [tackle],” Razzano said. “He’s like another Michael Carter, who we got in the fifth round in San Francisco – one of the all-time steals. I see he’s rated as the ninth-best defensive tackle. If they do a [mock] re-draft in a few years, he’ll be a top-seven pick.”

"Prohibition...goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to
control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things
that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very
principles upon which our government was founded."

One thing that still makes me a little nervous about Locker is how good Keith Price looks for Washington. The guy still runs for his life and gets consistently creamed, but he has 29 TD's and has completed 70% of his passes this year and his receivers look fantastic.

I went and checked a few of the threads before the draft to make sure I wasn't remembering things wrong. There were like 5 people on here who said they would be okay if the Titans drafted Gabbert. He was basically the least popular QB in the draft on this forum (behind Newton, Ponder, Dalton, Kaepernick, Mallett and, of course, Locker--who was the most popular pick).

If you want to pat yourself on the back for predicting Gabbert would be a bust, go for it. Just know that basically every single member on this forum gets to do the same.

When the Titans went to pick and Gabbert was still on the board, I was just praying that we did not take him. Then when the Jags actually traded up to get this guy, it just made my day ... I always thought this guy would be a bust.

I didn't see any of the game though, did McCown come in due to injury or just bad play?

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